Two metre rule

[Bobthebuildercanitbefixed]

The two-metre social distancing rule can be abandoned by businesses reopening after lockdown if they introduce other measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus, Government scientists have told ministers. So you can go to a pub but not visit parents who are fit and healthy. When do you reckon the whole social distancing will be scrapped? Just interested to know opinions.

[contrmary]

When will "the whole social distancing" be scrapped? Probably a year or two at best, after we have a vaccine and everyone has been given the opportunity to receive it. I suppose if the infection rate drops to zero it could be scrapped too.

Otherwise social distancing measures will need to continue to prevent another upturn in cases.

[Mumteedum]

Our university is planning for 1m. It's totally arbitrary. If I'm teaching indoors for a 7 hour day, if one student has it then we all will.

I'm just done with it all. The virus is staying. Government are floundering about and have been all along. We've managed to both tank the economy and have worst death rates. I give up trying to make sense of it.

[ToastyCrumpet]

So far as I can see it’s mostly been scrapped already. Runners and cyclists have never bothered at all.

[Ponoka7]

Businesses will push for it. The face coverings aren't being enforced here in Liverpool and I can see SD being abandoned by Christmas. It's gone from 2 in the smaller shops to 5.

It's for everyone to do their own risk assessment, because none of the guidance makes sense. Holidays starting up again, but telling us not to visit each other, certainly doesn't.

[ACautionaryTale]

There is logic.

We neeed the economy functioning but we don’t NEED to see relatives.

Also.

I’m not likely to go around hugging the school teacher or the shop worker or the holiday rep or even my colleagues

But how many can be trusted not to hug a loved one if they get the chance

[LudaMusser]

I walk my DD in pushchair five miles a day everyday so encounter a lot of other walkers, runners and unfortunately cyclists on the pavements

I've purposely chosen routes with wide pavements but in my experience it's the youth that have the biggest disregard for distancing, a lot seem to have an arrogance about them, maybe they think they won't catch it and if they do they'll be fine still?

Cyclists are horrendous. They often look at me gone out as they've had to stop. It's almost as if they're thinking What are you doing on the footpath

[jomaIone]

But you can visit your parents now??? Can't you??

[Milssofadoesntreallyfit]

Runners and cyclists have never bothered at all.

A problem which only started when lock down did when out door spaces became inundated with everyone else because lockdown stopped everything they did.

Im a runner and I do agree with you social distancing existed whilst running and cycling before lockdown, you could go for miles and hardly see anyone, lockdown came and we couldnt get moved. Some runners I know stopped running as it got to busy, I continued because I knew it was possible for it to happen but actually it was the large number of others that werent accomodating, I tried they didnt.

This isnt a bun fight its fact Ive been running for 25 years in the same area and dog walking for the last 5, were again we encountered more issues with lack of social distancing due to extra numbers of people i public who wouldnt normally be there if gyms, pools, shops, cinemas etc were open.

[Ponoka7]

@ACautionaryTale, you might not hug the holiday rep, but there's a lot of physical contact goes on when people drink and a lot of shagging on holiday.

Not everyone are huggers.

[ginsparkles]

Isn't part of the thing with social distance the amount of time? If you pass by a cyclist it's a few seconds, most shopping interactions last minutes. But contact with your loved ones is generally not going to be fleeting. So more risk.
Also I agree with pp, you aren't going to hug the shop assistant but you will your family.
I also still think pubs restaurants etc indoors will be a little while off yet. It's 4th July at the earliest. Even with retail he phased it, shops didn't all open on the 1st June. So I wouldn't be expecting pubs and restaurants and clubs and hair dressers to all open on the 4th July. These things need to open but it will still be gradual I suspect.

[Lindy2]

I would be less likely to visit a shop or other establishment if they did not have 2m social distancing.

If it felt overcrowded somewhere I wouldn't go. Reducing the 2m rule might increase trade on paper but may not in reality if a large number of people avoid places they perceive as less safe.

[Porcupineinwaiting]

I wouldnt visit anywhere - shops, restaurants, pubs etc- that require me to be within 1m of strangers right now, tbh. So I guess that means I wont be going.

[Bluntness100]

I think the fundamental issue, which isn’t being explained by the government, is that going to see family there is a much higher chance you will get physically close, and for an extended period. Which hugely increases the risk of transmission.

Whereas you’re unlikely to do that with a stranger - people on the pull or pissed will but those at risk won’t.

I think it will be scrapped into aug or sept, depending on how the numbers fare, the fact it’s spreading now isn’t a bad thing, it gives people immunity,

[Milssofadoesntreallyfit]

I also agree with the lack of pavement space due to lockdown cyclists, before lockdown I had never experienced it, but as soon as lockdown started all of a sudden cyclists appeared on the pavements, I have to move on to the roads and then get blasted by road users and sworn at.

I moved not for social distance but because they were literally hogging all the space.

So again the issues arose from lockdown and from those who were doing those activities as they couldnt do what they usually did and they caused the issues.

[userxx]

I think it will be scrapped into aug or sept,

I think so too.

Op why can't you go and see your parents?

[letmethinkaboutitfornow]

YANBU - I would reduce it to 1 m in July and scrap it by September for the majority.
Those who are STILL shielding then, could still wear mask, gloves and other measures. But the economy and the sanity of millions of workers and parents are more important than the shielding few.

We have made sacrifices. A LOT!
There will be a second and third...etc wave. However how we deal with it will count.
There will be still risks for some people, however we should be focusing to those as and when needed rather than keeping the whole population in fear.

[cologne4711]

I think it should stay as 2m over the summer and then be scrapped or reduced once infection rates have reduced to the tens a day rather than 4 figures.

Agree cyclists on pavements who won't give way are a pain, but actually anyone who won't give way is a pain. Yesterday I walked into my local town centre and on the way back encountered two girls/young women (no older than 20) walking their dogs who were extremely reluctant to walk single file, and then a boy on his bike around the age of 16 who I told to get on the road as it was clear and perfectly safe.

You can walk single file, couples and groups, nothing is going to happen to you!

[wanderings]

I'm sure the government are well aware that many people are not bothering with the 2m rule; they'd rather wait for us to break it ourselves, and using it as a test case, before they announce any relaxation of it. They're not going to tell us in advance when SD will be scrapped, only the day before.

I agree with @Milssofadoesntreallyfit that by keeping stuff closed, in a way it's increasing the problem, that more people are crammed into spaces, because there are fewer places for them to go. Just open places and be done with it. I'm clinging to a hope the SD will be relaxed at the same time as many things open, and certainly in time for September, so they don't have to come up with a solution for schools.

[cologne4711]

I also agree that even though shops could open on Monday, many have not, eg Argos, Decathlon and Robert Dyas have only opened selected branches. Though I suspect that has less to do with safety and more to do with making use of the furlough scheme for as long as possible.

[cologne4711]

more people are crammed into spaces, because there are fewer places for them to go

A lot of us were saying that right from the beginning when car parks and parks were closed. It was stupid but local councils would not be told.

[Deanetta]

Not everyone lives next door to their parents. We can't visit my husband's family as they live too far away for a day trip.

My dad is only 30 minutes down the road but if all he's allowed to do is come inside to use the toilet, unless it's a nice hot day there's little point in meeting up. We are not his 'bubble'.

I do get the logic of the 'economy' argument, and in my defence I have been pointing this out to other individuals who complain. But I am getting a bit sick of not being able to go inside our family's homes. I do get they have to give guidelines which cover the majority of the population. But it's frustrating when I know the risks are absolutely minimal if I went inside my dad's house (for all intents and purposes we have both been shielding, not for health reasons, we are just anti-social!), but it's against the rules (and I'm too much of a rule follower).

[nether]

I wouid but want to see it scrapped outdoors, because it is only 2weeks since the shielded community (2.5 million of us, of any and all ages) were told it was not unduly unsafe to go out for daily exercise with strict 2m distancing.

That will be unachievable if everyone else thinks closer is OK..

By all means set closer distances for certain business premises.

But please do not make it impossible for the most vulnerable to go out safely. It's difficult enough already, as people are unfortunately becoming less observant.

[threesmallcows]

It's a ridiculous arbitrary distance anyway and is different in different countries.

Droplets from a sneeze can carry as far as 27 ft depending on weather conditions.

The risk to people's mental and physical health and the devastating effects on the economy far outweigh any benefit from this farcical
distancing measure.

[AJPTaylor]

It won't be scrapped but people are already applying their own common sense to rules. The intention is to minimise spread. The ridiculous nonsense about you can only meet one parent/Not go in their house has largely run it's course in my opinion. Different if you are in the shielding category but other than that I can make my own assessments, thank you. As indeed can unelected, highly paid wankers like Dominic Cummings.

[AJPTaylor]

And hopefully they can do it sooner than bloody later. Employers are already consulting on redundancies in my industry because of the impossibility of getting people sitting 2 metres apart. The sheer cost of additional office space etc makes a business run on small margins unprofitable.